DAD FROM ‘FRASIER’ DIES AT 77:
Role player Mahoney, 77, also a Tony-winner
JOHN MAHONEY, who played the crusty, workingclass father on TV’s “Frasier,” died Sunday after a brief illness, his publicist told the Daily News. He was 77. The British-born actor starred on “Frasier” for 11 seasons as Martin Crane, the no-nonsense, ex-cop father of highstrung, upper-class brothers Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and Niles (David Hyde Pierce).
That role earned Mahoney two Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations, although he never took home a trophy.
Mahoney moved to Illinois and attended college before joining the Army. When he returned, he taught English at Western Illinois University before serving as the editor of a medical journal for most of the 1970s.
Eventually, he took to the stage, and joined Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre in 1977 at the suggestion of John Malkovich.
“It is with our deepest sorrow that we share the news that ensemble member of 39 years John Mahoney passed away,” the theater tweeted.
The company canceled Monday’s performance of “You Got Older” and instead invited fans to join them to honor Mahoney.
After winning several awards for his early work, Mahoney moved to Broadway, where he won a Tony Award for best featured actor in a play for his role in John Guare’s “The House of Blue Leaves” in 1986.
He then launched a career in Hollywood, with roles in “Tin Men,” “Eight Men Out,” “Say Anything” and “Barton Fink,” among others.
After “Frasier” ended in 2004, Mahoney returned to the stage for the Broadway revival of “Prelude to a Kiss.”
One of his most recent TV appearances was a recurring role as Betty White’s love interest in “Hot in Cleveland” from 2011 to 2014.
He also returned to Steppenwolf in “The Birthday Party” in early 2013.
“I’ve not known a kinder man nor more brilliant actor,” casting director Jeff Greenberg tweeted. “We were all blessed to have spent 11 glorious years together.”
British Schneider loss online.
“The perfect comic actor because you saw no acting,” he tweeted.
Mahoney never married and had no children, but was godfather to “Frasier” co-star Jane Leeves’ son Finn. actor David also mourned the